The present invention is in the field of transportation and in particular transportation by sea. To be more precise, the present invention is in the field of transportation by sea/land going containers.
For many years transportation by sea has been based on transportation in sea/land going containers. The sea/land going container is a standard unit of dimensions and strength defined by ISO STANDARDS. The standard dimensions of the sea/land going containers enable uniform handling and transportation. The sea/land going containers can be piled one on top of the other and coupled so that one sea/land going container is connected to the other and to the handling platform. Today, sea transportation uses sea/land going containers that comply with ISO STANDARDS.
Various attempts were made to construct containers for transportation of vehicles.
WO 81/01997 describes a vehicle housing apparatus for transporting vehicles by sea, which has a supporting plate capable of carrying a plurality of vehicles, a pair of metallic rails mounted at both sides of the supporting plate, and coupling joints attached to the upper and the lower surfaces of the respective rails in the vicinities of both ends thereof. The apparatus disclosed in disadvantageous since it does not comply with ISO STANDARDS 668 1AAA and 1CC.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,639,174 discloses a stackable cargo unit for carrying one or more vehicles comprising a wing able ramp by which the vehicles roll on or off the unit, a lower frame, one or more elongated members of the frame capable of bearing the vehicle, a terminus fixed to the lower frame, a floating block rotatably and slidably connected to terminus and an ear at one end of the post, the ear rotatably and slidably connected to the floating block. The cargo unit disclosed is useful for carrying heavy vehicles such as ships, trucks and trains. The structural features comprising the cargo unit includes a ramp which requires the operation of accessory devices such as a crane. Furthermore, it is not clear to which ISO STANDARD does the invention relate.
Currently, the dimensions and strength of the sea/land going containers are determined according the ISO standards, in order to retain the uniformity of transportation standards around the world.
The sea/land going container ISO STANDARDS define storage space. The standards define the external dimensions and the load of a standard sea/land going container
The data is defined in ISO STANDARD 668:1988/AMD.1.1993.E (page 3 Table 2)
The data for containers is defined as follows:
(a) 1AAA (xe2x80x9cHIGH CUBExe2x80x9d 40 feet):
External Length, L=12,192 mm (40 feet)
External width, W=2,438 mm (8 feet)
External Height, H=2,896 (9 feet and 6 inch)
Maximal load, Gross Mass (GrW)=30,480 Kg (67,200 Lbs)
Weight, TARE=3,900 Kg (8,600 Lbs)
(b) 1CC (20 feet):
External Length, L=6,058 mm (19 feet and 10xc2xc inch)
External width, W=2,438 mm (8 feet)
External Height, H=2,591 (8 feet and 6 inch)
Maximal load, Gross Mass (GrW)=24,000 kg (52,910 Lbs)
Weight, TARE=2,200 Kg (4,850 Lb.)
Additional standards, relating to the containers data and to the required testing and marking are ISO 1496/V-1977(E)-1 and ISO 1496/1.
In our invention it is possible to combine up to 8 containers one on top of the other.
For the purpose of combining the containers to the sea/land transportation apparatuses (trains and trucks) and for connecting one container to the other, standard combining devices are used (xe2x80x98twist locksxe2x80x99 (xe2x80x98connectorsxe2x80x99)) which are jointed to specific devices (xe2x80x98corner fittingsxe2x80x99) in the 8 corners of the container. These devices are also used for loading and unloading of the containers by a crane. An additional possibility for lifting empty or loaded containers is by fork-lift, for this purpose special devices are installed in the containers base (xe2x80x98fork lift pocketsxe2x80x99). Their location and dimensions are defined by ISO STANDARD 668.
From this data it can be concluded that when combining 8 folded containers (to obtain a height of xe2x80x9cHIGH CUBExe2x80x9d 40 feet) and with the maximal allowed load of 30,480 Kg, we obtain an accumulated load of 8 containers and the load of the four corners of the bottom containers is about 30,480 Kgxc3x978/4=61,000 Kg.
The obtained load in the containers corner dictates the structural strength required for the static and dynamic load.
During transportation of vehicles in the sea/land going container, a vehicle (mostly private vehicles) may take up a relatively small volume in the sea/land going container, and at the same time does not allow for more than one vehicle to be placed into a standard 20 feet container and more than two vehicles into a 40 feet standard container. This increases the cost of transportation of the vehicle in the sea/land going container. The excess volume of the standard sea/land going container for the transportation of the vehicle is mainly a result of the height of the sea/land going container in relation to the height of the vehicle, but as stated before, the possibilities to locate the vehicles in the container are limited.
Therefore the aim of the present invention was to construct an improved sea/land going container to which a maximal number of vehicles can be loaded. The sea/land going container according to the present invention is simplified in production and operation, reduces the cost of vehicle transportation and yet complies with ISO STANDARDS 668 as described in the present invention.
The present invention solves the above problem by providing a sea/land going container for the transportation of one vehicle in 20 feet container and two vehicles in 40 feet container, but when connecting two of these sea/land going containers, one on top of the other, forming a new unit whose dimensions are those of a standard sea/land going container and the pair of the said sea/land going containers can be considered as one sea/land going container for purposes of storage and handling, thus as a standard sea/land going container. An additional advantage of this sea/land going container invention is that it does not include lateral walls and can be folded when transporting empty. The connection of 8 folded sea/land going containersxe2x80x94according to the present inventionxe2x80x94one on top of the other, produces one unit that complies with all the requirements of the standards of a sea/land going container.
The present invention provides a sea/land going container system for transportation by sea and land of private vehicles the system is characterized by having one pair of sea/land going containers arranged one on top of the other, forming one unit sea/land going container with two levels, each of the containers comprises a transportation platform 1 for carrying vehicles, the unit having the dimensions and the structure complying with ISO STANDARD 668/1AAA, 668/1CC and ISO 1469/V, and each container having rail depressions 4 on the transportation platform for inserting the wheels of the vehicle; four beams 2, the beams are installed in the corners of the transportation platform, enabling the loading of an additional sea/land going container to form one unit by means of connectors 7, the beams are positioned in a state of unfolded or folded onto the transportation platform around a given axis inside an elongated rail depression, enabling the movement of the axis for coupling the beam with the transportation platform for transporting the sea/land going container when empty; at least one leaf-spring installed in the corners of the transportation platform and; knees, the knees are connected to each beam for pushing the leaf-spring when the beam is folded, the pushed leaf-spring is used as an auxiliary spring for pushing up the beam.
The present invention is of a sea/land going container for the transportation of a vehicle, with dimensions and structure, such that two of these sea/land going containers piled one on top of the other, form one sea/land going container with two levels, of the dimensions and structure of a sea/land going container required by ISO STANDARDTS. The sea/land going container (a single container), according to the present invention, has a height of 1435 mm (4 feet and 9 inches), width of 2,438 mm (8 feet) and a length of 6,058 (20 feet) or 12,192 mm (40 feet). Two of the said sea/land going containers piled on top of each other and connected together make one sea/land going container of a standard height of 2,896 mm (9 feet and 6 inches)xe2x80x94which is the known dimension of HIGH CUBExe2x80x94and its width is 2,438 mm (8 feet) and the length is 6,058 mm (20 feet) or 12,192 mm (40 feet). The sea/land going container, according to the present invention, comprised of a transportation platform to carry the vehicle during transportation, rail depression of the transportation platform on which the wheels of the vehicle are inserted to increase the maximum possible height for transportation in such a sea/land going container and for the purpose of lashing anchoring the vehicle during transportation, four beams are installed in the corners of the transportation platform in a force structure enabling the loading of more sea/land going containers with the maximal allowed load (pay load) and connectors complying with ISO STANDARDTS in quantity and locations determined by the standard, for connecting the sea/land going containers one to the other for loading purposes and connecting to adjacent sea/land going containers or to means of transportation.
After loading the vehicles in both sea/land going containers of the present invention, one sea/land going container is put on top of the other and they are connected to each other. Two sea/land going containers become one unit sea/land going container complying with ISO STANDARD 668.
The four beams of the transportation platform may be folded on the transportation platform. Every beam folds on an axis installed in the elongated rail depression and after 90xc2x0 folding it is possible to remove the beam together with the axis in the elongated rail depression and couple the beam together with the transportation platform. In this situation they form one unit of a folded sea/land going container, 362 mm (14.25 inch) high. Eight folded sea/land going containers, stored one on the other and connected one to the other form one unit complying with the requirements of the ISO STANDARDS 668 of one sea/land going container, and the eight empty sea/land going containers can be transported as one sea/land going container. Every beam has an auxiliary spring that helps to bring the beam back to the vertical position in order to use it for transportation of vehicles.
For purposes of this specification and the accompanying claims, the term xe2x80x9cconnectorsxe2x80x9d refers to xe2x80x9ccorner fittingsxe2x80x9d.
For purposes of this specification and the accompanying claims, the term xe2x80x9cstabilizing pinxe2x80x9d refers to xe2x80x9ctwist lockxe2x80x9d.